ESPO and Butler-Williams Scientific Symposium: Career Development to Promote Diversity, Discovery, and Aging

Co-Chair(s)

• 

  Brianna Morgan, PhD, CRNP (she/her/hers)

  Postdoctoral Fellow
  Medicine
  NYU Grossman School of Medicine
  New York City, New York, United States

Discussant(s)

• 

  Patricia Jones, DrPH, MPH, MS, MBA

  Director, Office of Special Populations
  Office of Special Populations
  NIH, NIA
  Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• 

  Imilce Rodriguez-Fernandez, PhD (she/her/hers)

  Assistant Professor
  Biology
  University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras
  San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States
• 

  Helena Zomer, DVM, MS, PhD (she/her/hers)

  Research Assistant Professor
  Physiological Sciences
  University of Florida
  Gainesville, Florida, United States

  Slides
• 

  Shekinah Fashaw-Walters, PhD, MSPH (she/her/hers)

  Assistant Professor
  Health Policy and Management
  University of Minnesota
  Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
• 

  Sara LaHue, MD (she/her/hers)

  Assistant Professor of Neurology
  Neurology
  University of California, San Francisco
  San Francisco, California, United States

  Slides

The NIA’s Butler-Williams Scholars Program and GSA’s ESPO Section are united in providing career development opportunities in a manner that promotes leadership, diversity, and inclusivity. This year’s theme challenges our emerging scholars to embrace diversity and discovery while thinking—or rethinking—about the perspectives of older adults. Disparities in health associated with race/ethnicity, lived experience, sociocultural and socioeconomic factors, as well as access to and provision of health care are chief concerns of our aging population. GSA’s early career professionals and 2022 alumni of the prestigious NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program address these issues.
Dr. Shekinah Fashaw-Walters will discuss her work examining how high-quality providers influence high quality of healthcare, particularly for Black patients. Dr. Sara LaHue will discuss how biological age can be a measure associated with delirium or neuronal inury markers in a cohort of hip fracture patients. Dr. Imilce Rodrigues-Fernandez will present on the importance of identifying pathways that can lead to improvements in stem cell function that can improve age-related tissue degeneration. how both demographics and genetic factors contribute to cognitive performance. The final speaker, Dr. Helena Zomer will present findings on the mechanism by which a hormone can extend healthspan and longevity. The featured talks by rising stars deepen our understanding of the influence of diversity and key discoveries so we can reimagine aging research.

Presentations:

• 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

  Stress, Stem Cells, and the Gut Microbiome—Implications for Aging
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Imilce A. Rodriguez-Fernandez, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras
• 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

  Unraveling Nongenomic Mechanisms by Which 17α-Estradiol Extends Healthspan and Longevity
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Helena D. Zomer, DVM, MS, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of Florida
• 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

  Defying the Odds: Exceptional Home Health Agencies Serving High Proportions of Black Patients
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Shekinah Fashaw-Walters, PhD, MSPH (she/her/hers) – University of Minnesota
• 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

  Accelerated Biological Age Is Associated With Delirium and Plasma Neurofilament Light in Geriatric Hip Fracture
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Sara LaHue, MD (she/her/hers) – University of California, San Francisco